The Oregon Juniper Management tool presented here is a result of over a year of work that included an extensive data collection, standardization and analysis process, as well as development of the tool itself. The inputs into the tool and the prioritization modeling process include: compilation of existing spatial data specific to juniper management; review of existing juniper research pertaining to expansion; review of current mapped juniper data; review of costs associated with harvest and treatment and varying modeling approaches; implementation of a decision support model, coupled with the development of the online tool. At the time of this tool's launch, in 2013, all data present in the tool was the current and regarded as the best available. As new data becomes available however the Oregon Juniper Management Tool team will work, within budgetary confines, to ensure that the most up to date and relevant data is imported into the tool. Please contact afenix@ecotrust.org and share what insights you may have pertaining to the data we are currently using (or other data sets that we should be aware of) or to simply let us know what your experiences are with the tool. Together we can make it better. To learn more about the data showcased in the tool and the methodologies used see below.
This tool allows land managers and other stakeholders to review a suite of juniper-related spatial data layers such as juniper canopy, sage grouse habitat, hydrology, and public ownership in an interactive web map viewer, and then build personalized scenarios for juniper removal. This is done by defining specific objectives, such as how many acres of juniper to remove or whether or not to prioritize removal in sage grouse habitat. The tool includes a wide array of spatially explicit data pertaining to juniper, management and wildlife species including data on sage grouse and pygmy rabbit habitat. Users can explore these raw data sets as well as the data summarized to level 5 Hydro 1-k watersheds (a geographic database produced by the USGS providing comprehensive and consistent global coverage of topographically derived basin boundaries). Please see the detailed metadata under the "Data" header to learn more about each data layer that was included in the tool, the source, publication date and other relevant information.
We used a multi-objective decision support model based on computational heuristics to identify regional priorities at the 5th field, sub-basin scale. The heuristic draws on a simulated annealing algorithm to approximate an optimal configuration (or prioritization schematic) given a mathematically defined set of objectives (referred to as an objective function). This target based approach allows for the selection of a set of priority planning units based on avoiding those areas places that are environmentally vulnerable or potentially could be more costly (i.e. steep slopes), subject to the condition that targets for juniper treatment included in the analysis are met. Please see the detailed documentation of the prioritization process for additional information.
The data that inform the tool's inputs are described below. Hover your mouse over the data layer's name to see a description of the data, or click on the "View Metadata" link to see and download the full metadata for each data layer.
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BLM Lands
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Cities
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View Metadata |
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Major USA Highways
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View Metadata |
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Planning Units
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Primary Rivers
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View Metadata |
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Rivers/Streams/Canals
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View Metadata |
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USFWS Lands
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View Metadata |
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Juniper cover greater than 50%
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View Metadata |
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Juniper Phase 1
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View Metadata |
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Juniper Phase 2
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View Metadata |
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Juniper Phase 3
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View Metadata |
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BLM Wild Horse and Burro Herd Areas
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View Metadata |
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Pygmy Rabbit Habitat
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Sage Grouse Preliminary General Habitat
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Sage Grouse Preliminary Priority Habitat
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BLM Biological Treatment Areas
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View Metadata |
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BLM Burn Treatment Areas
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View Metadata |
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BLM Chemical Treatment Areas
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View Metadata |
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BLM Grazing Allotments
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View Metadata |
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BLM Harvest Treatment Areas
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View Metadata |
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BLM Mechanical Treatment Areas
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View Metadata |
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BLM Protection Treatment Areas
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View Metadata |
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BLM Revegetation Treatment Areas
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View Metadata |
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BLM Visual Resource Inventory Publication Areas
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View Metadata |
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BLM Visual Resource Management Publication Areas
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View Metadata |
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BLM Wild Horse and Burro Herd Management Areas
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View Metadata |
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Burn Probability
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View Metadata |
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Historic Juniper Extent
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View Metadata |
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Invasive Weeds
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View Metadata |
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NREL Biomass Resource Potential
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View Metadata |
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Protected Areas
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View Metadata |
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Public Roads by Ownership
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View Metadata |
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Utilization Centers
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Wetlands
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View Metadata |
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Wild and Scenic Rivers
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View Metadata |
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Areas of Critical Environmental Concern
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View Metadata |
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BLM Wilderness Characteristics Areas
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View Metadata |
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BLM Wilderness Lands
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View Metadata |
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BLM Wilderness Study Areas
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View Metadata |
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Slopes Greater Than 20%
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View Metadata |
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Areas of critical environmental concern
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BLM wilderness characteristics areas
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BLM Wilderness Lands
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BLM Wilderness Study Area
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Juniper cover greater than 50%
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Juniper Phase 1 Summary
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View Metadata |
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Juniper Phase 2 Summary
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View Metadata |
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Juniper Phase 3 Summary
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View Metadata |
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Slope greater than 20%
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Wetlands
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